The Pied Flycatcher is a small flycatching bird slightly smaller than a House Sparrow. The male is predominantly black with a white belly, throat and wing patches. The female has a brown back and head with a pale brown belly and throat. 

Pied Flycatchers snatch flying insects from the air. They are mainly found in mature broadleaf woodlands. They thrive in temperate rain forests – a unique habitat of ancient oak, birch, pine and hazel woodland. Temperate rain forests have high rainfall and humidity and a low annual variation in temperature. Dartmoor is home to some of these precious woodland sites. 

The Pied Flycatcher is a summer visitor to Brimpts Farm and arrives around April/May time from central Africa. They use their time in the UK to breed, using holes in mature trees as nest boxes. They lay six or seven light blue eggs which hatch after two weeks of incubation. Chicks then spend another 16/17 days in the nest before fledging. 

Pied Flycatchers are in decline and have a Red List status on the conservation list. 

The oldest known Pied Flycatcher has been recorded by ringers at 9 years old.